A round-up of useful facts and figures

Here are the latest foodie facts we have found this week

International food and grocery experts IGD predicts growth in annual Fairtrade spending will average 11% over the next five years to total £585m by 2012.

In the catering and hospitality industry last year, over 50% of the injuries reported to the HSE were from a slip, trip or fall, costing society £31 million.

Some 61% of consumers in the capital agreed that issues such as 'best before' dates, allergy advice and additives in foods are 'very' or 'quite' important. Although people in the North East placed least importance on them and were more likely to never refer to them.

Three quarters of consumers in the England are now aware that we should be eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day, and a growing number are also claiming to be putting this into practice.

Cola is currently worth £1.5billion to the licensed trade, with a 42% share of total soft drinks sales.

London hotels achieved a 3.7% growth in rooms yield from £86.18 last year to £89.40 this year. This was driven by an increase of 5.3% in room rates as occupancy dipped slightly from 72% in 2007 to 71.0% this year.

Pret A Manger has 200 shops, employs almost 4,000 people and had sales in 2007 of £223 million – up from £194 in 2006.

Today's pubs are selling 14 million fewer pints a day than they did when sales were at their peak almost 20 years ago. Overall sales in pubs, supermarkets and off-licences are down seven million pints a day over the same period.

Some 67% of respondents in a survey carried out by Oxford University said they were less likely to eat out after they had been diagnosed with coeliac disease.

Over 1800 restaurants opened up for business last year, in comparison with just over 1700 take away outlets starting up.

The Barracuda group's rose sales grew by a massive 99% across the nation during the last three months of 2007, and sparkling wine and champagne sales have soared by more than 50%.

Compass group spends around £3.5million on food a year and with prices of wheat and dairy products rising, this meant they were spending an additional £100million on food every year.

Fizzy drinks are set to make up 50% of the UK soft drinks market by 2011 – down from 61% last month. By contrast bottled water will increase from 19% to a 24% share over the same period.

Beer sales from local breweries have achieved a 10.7% hike in last year's figures, despite the growing trend of falling volumes, according to a report by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

Every person in the UK eats 200Ibs of potato each year. And in total, the UK manages to get through 5.5 million tonnes a year in the form of chips, roast, mashed, boiled and baked potatoes.